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Group Three: Doom Desire Bracket [MC2012]

M&F

tikitok
Pronoun
any
GROUP THREE - DOOM DESIRE BRACKET

2012 Metronome Contest

Judges: Mai, blazheirio889, sreservoir

Entrants:
- ole_schooler
- Pathos
- Shadow Serenity
- Luxcario
- Kusarigamaitachi
- RespectTheBlade
- Sweetie Belle
- Blastoise Fortooate
- Grass King
- Effercon

Current round: 2nd

Moves:

allitersonance
A: Disable, Mud-Slap, Body Slam, Worry Seed
B: Head Charge, Guard Swap, Haze, Sketch

Blastoise Fortooate
A: Mud-Slap, Punishment, Blaze Kick, Roar
B: Taunt, Hypnosis, Fusion Bolt, Silver Wind

Shadow Serenity
A: Iron Defense, Flamethrower, Mist, Telekinesis
B: Poison Jab, Triple Kick, Glaciate, Defog

Pathos
A: Psywave, Twister, Embargo, Magnitude
B: Revenge, Shadow Force, Sleep Talk, Toxic

ole_schooler
A: Wring Out, Hail, Toxic, FeatherDance
B: ThunderShock, Gust, Psyshock, Fury Swipes

Stages:

allitersonance - Fancy Restaurant
The smell of money reeks from everything in this restaurant -- from the groomed floor, to the soft chairs, to the gourmet menu, to the artsy decor, to the sort of people that frequents the place. There is a fountain on one of the walls, sized enough for small water-dwelling Pokémon and to supply water-based attacks. Destructive potential is high. Any other additions needed by the dealt moves will be added in.

Blastoise Fortooate - Thick Forest
A tight trail amidst wild woods. Pokémon cries ocasionally interrupt the natural quiet of the area. Any additions needed by the dealt moves will be added in.

Shadow Serenity - Rural Gulch
An unsophisticated town along grassy hills, dotted with wide farms, pens and simple, wooden homes. Often, there will be a hillbilly in a straw hat passing along. A river passes along the village, allowing water-dwelling Pokémon and water-based attacks to be used. Destructive potential is high. Any other additions needed by the dealt moves will be added in.

Pathos - Snowboard Slope
A snow-covered, highly slanted hill, highly favoured by skiers, snowboarders, lovers of slipping up and other such extreme sportists. Those using this terrain for appeals should be careful, lest their Pokémon gets sent tumbling away (unless that was always the plan, of course). Any additions needed by the dealt moves will be added in.

ole_schooler - Wildfire Jungle
Just this once, it wasn't a reckless ASB trainer who caused the disaster. Nonetheless, a reckless ASB trainer is planning to record a contest appeal during the disaster. As the name makes rather clear, these woods are being consumed by a rapidly spreading blaze, threatening all species inhabiting it. Any additions needed by the dealt moves will be added in, although any bodies of water might be already in use by a firefighting effort (not that this sort of thing has ever stopped an Asberian).

Appeals:

Pathos
Castiel: Sleep Talk ~ Toxic ~ Shadow Force
Topher: Twister + Psywave ~ Magnitude

ole_schooler
Angel: Featherdance ~ Hail ~ Toxic
Luke: Psyshock ~ Gust ~ Psyshock
 
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Alright, let's do this, before I have any worse ideas. Xander, my Larvitar, is up. Stage should be dimly lit, with blue light if I can have it. Xander, you're going to waddle onstage from the stage right. Take a bow, then throw a bunch of Acid into the air, in as small droplets as you can manage, and hold them up there with Confusion. If you can't hold them all, try and keep up a cluster in a sphere area. Let the droplets stay in the air and twinkle for a few moments, and try and keep a look of wonder on your face. Then, light up the stage and the drops with Cosmic Power, spreading your hands wide as you do so, and letting the lights catch and twinkle. Then, I'll recall you, and the whole thing will fall to the stage, hopefully with the acid reacting to create misty CO2 when it hits the ground. And not dousing the audience.

Acid+Confusion~Cosmic Power
 
I'll use Steelbird, my Skarmory. Lights should be off at first, but have them turn on just as Steelbird uses the third action.

Start by using Brave Bird, but just as you land, use Night Daze for tremendous impact upon landing. Finally, end it with a powerful Hydro Cannon just as the lights turn on, for an ostentatious display of raw power.

Brave Bird + Night Daze (upon landing) ~ Hydro Cannon
 
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I'll use Cloudy Toaster, my Woobat. The stage should be lit a light shade of purple as he flies on. Once on the stage, start to properly use Fly, and dart around in the air madly while firing countless Weather Balls that slowly float down to the bottom of the stage, but hover a few inches above the floor. When they're all floating, stop darting around and Aqua Tail them so they turn into a mist, coloured purple by the lights.

Fly+Weather Ball~Aqua Tail
 
hey judges

you all like anime right

I'll give you some anime (physics)

I'll use Kusha, my treecko. Like all treecko, he is capable of walking on walls and ceilings using hooks on his feet, so he'll be hanging upside down on the ceiling (or some sort of horizontal support beam if that's more appropriate, more available, or better-placed). He's also going to be starting out holding a dummy; the dummy should look reasonably like a person from a distance and be wearing fairly loose clothing. It should also be fairly resistant to damage, especially of the blunt impact kind, like all anime people. I may or may not have hidden weights on parts of its body or clothing so that it would not be a source of problems with my appeal.

Lighting... hmm. The area up by the ceiling should be dark, to keep people from seeing Kusha and the preparatory stuff. I'd like the stage dim except for a spotlight, shining its beam to the spot on the floor right under Kusha; should work if the beam is at a slight angle so Kusha doesn't have to be on the light itself and cast an unsightly shadow before it all begins.

... okay, Kusha, let's show them how skilled an unrealistic fighter you are! Obviously this is the end of a fight or something, and you're just about to perform the finishing blow, so remember to keep an arrogant grin on your face!

First, drop the dummy so it'll be landing back-first. Wait a second or so, then let go of the ceiling and leap off after it face-first, as though you're totally ignoring what sort of damage that can happen from such a thing. Just as the dummy lands, fire off an icicle spear aimed at its clothing to make a nice knife outline (this is for you, Mai). Around the torso area should be good if you're limited to five, with a couple pinning the sleeves; try not to hit the dummy's body itself (though with the lack of blood it might be harder for the audience to see) because of the inverse law of sharpness and accuracy. For this you may have to start the attack just before the dummy lands, but since the icicles don't start at zero velocity, you can probably get the spears through the dummy's clothes before a noticeable delay.

Of course, a second later there's only one thing that can happen - you landing on the dummy. But that's just part of your attack. Crush claw the dummy right in the chest, and upon impact, let out a nice sonicboom to show just how powerful your attack is.

Since the amount of damage you take should be comparable to a sky drop, you shouldn't be too heavily injured afterwards. So make sure to stand back up casually and be appropriately cocky, victorious over your fallen opponent.

Icicle Spear ~ Crush Claw + Sonicboom
 
Some things I should set up for the beginning of the appeal;

~ There should be a thin carbon ice haze, with my Pokemon in the middle if it. The haze is not on the audience.

~ The lighting should be bright enough to show off my Pokemon in the haze, BUT my Pokemon should be slightly shadowed (meaning you can still see it and the details of it, but it looks a bit like a shadow also). My Pokemon should also be looking mysterious,


Ok, I send out MooMoo (Miltank (Why has no one thought of that name yet)). MooMoo, be sure to be standing mysteriously at the beginning, so that the audience anticipates what you will do. Now, for your first action, use Spore on the haze, making the haze sparkle with the dusty particles, also showing you off in a sea of sparkles (Be sure that you are actually shown off and not covered by the sparkles).

**Note, Spore causes a Pokemon to sleep. However, since the particles of Spore are in the haze and are not directly at MooMoo, she will not sleep, unless she takes it away somehow.**

Now, MooMoo, for your second action, I want you to use Defog. Don't just blow it away; Actually make it disappear while leaving the Spore particles. The spore particles should slowly fall on you. (Since the haze will disappear, it will not go on the audience)

For your third action, you should begin to fall asleep. That's OK; just go to sleep, but bundle up in a cute way, making the audience d'aww at you.


Spore at the haze (MooMoo will not sleep, since it's not on MooMoo) ~ Defog (Make the fog disappear, but keep the Spore particles) ~ Sleep (Because of Spore)


**Note, the appeal should start out Mysterious (Since MooMoo looks mysterious inside the haze), then go to Beauty (Spore on the haze will make it sparkle, showing off MooMoo with Sparkles all around her), then on to d'awwing cuteness (Sleeping Miltank = d'aww).
 
Role Play, Zen Headbutt, Waterfall, Present
Alright, I'll be using Jimmy Handrix, my amazing rockstar aipom.

Start off in the center of the stage, lights bright but not oddly so. Use a bit of Zen Headbutt to make yourself glow and to focus your mind, but don't do any headbutting. Begin triple-juggling by creating a Present and passing it from hand to hand to tail-hand. As you create more (as many as you think you can handle while you're all zen and junk) speed it up as well. Then, suddenly, toss them into the air really high, in an arc-shape. Flip onto the judges' table and leap up into a Waterfall attack, hitting all of the Presents in midair. Waterfall is used to, well, resist the force of a waterfall, so it should give you enough momentum. Land in a roll and give a neat little bow.

If possible, a jaunty version of this will be playing in the background on speakers or a boombox or something.

Zen Headbutt (glow) ~ Present (juggle) ~ Waterfall @ presents
 
Okay, I'll be using Gwen for this.

Okay Gwen, this is gonna be a bit self-destructive, but there's not much else we can do. We'll start off with the lights dimmed and focused solely on Gwen, splotlight but very dim. I also want dry-ice smoke machines if they can be arranged, and glowy-blue-lights bringing attention to that from the bottom of the stage to make it all spooky-looking.

Gwen, start off by withdrawing + hydro pump. I want the water to come out of your shell without, you know, the hindrance of your tentacle-mabobs; and I want the force of the water to force you up so you look like a shelled cannon. Then, hopefully before you land, thunderbolt the spotlight casting light on you from above. ... Then land in the smoke and appear dead. Oh, and stay withdrawn while thunderbolting, in fact stay withdrawn the entire time, thank you!

Withdraw + Hydro Pump ~ Thunderbolt
 
Awright, Byrne, let's show these people how to put on a good appeal.

First, I'll ask for the lights to be dimmed, dark enough so that a lighter or cell phone would illuminate the darkness nicely.

We’ll start off with a combination of Attack Order and Rage. If i'm correct, Rage should bathe you in a red energy and enrage you, try and share that energy with the bees you order. They should glow too. The bees should follow your movements, and Rage will cast a nice light on you while you attack. Simply swing your blades in a fashion like a dancer, with powerful, yet elegant, sweeping slashes. Rage should power up your slashes and speed, at least to some degree. As you swing, the bees should follow your direction and create pretty red patterns for the audience to watch. Try and remain as elegant as possible despite your intense anger. Finally, let all the anger out by driving a large finishing strike into the floor, which should disrupt your connection with the bees and cause them to scatter. When you feel your connection with the bees ending, call them to attack you, and then use Bide. While the bees attack you, stay strong and endure the attack, and then release the energy. The shockwave should generate enough heat to completely incinerate all the bees surrounding you and send a shower of tiny fires to the floor around you.

Stand up with a confident smile and bow. If all goes right, this should be good.

(This appeal is bees.)

Attack Order + Rage ~ Bide
 
Using Steelbird, my Skarmory.

Dim the lights on the stage, but have normal lighting in the rest of the arena - this is an appeal with movement that does not start on the stage.

If possible, I'd like this to be the background music, specifically the part from 0:20-0:50.

Steelbird, do not start you appeal on the stage - start in in the corner of the arena, above the back row of spectators, and wait until the guitar intro (0:20-0:33) ends before you start. The moment it ends and the fast guitar part kicks in (0:34), use Brave Bird to swoop across the audience in such a way that some will have to duck as you use it. End the first Brave Bird in the other back corner of the arena at the part at 0:41 of the music. Directly after that, Brave Bird again, onto the stage this time, and just going over some of the spectators' heads again, but just as you land on the stage, use Night Daze for the spectacular impact to finish. You should start your landing at the part just after the second fast part (0:47), and land with a Night Daze at the heavy chord (0:50).

If the music is not allowed, the appeal will be the same - just with no background music.

Brave Bird ~ Brave Bird + Night Daze
 
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Don't remember if there was a time limit for this, but seeing as how no one's given any warnings yet, I'm going to assume I'm on time.

Shadow Serenity - Secret Sword, Dual Chop, Poison Sting, BubbleBeam

Okay, let's see... I think I'm going to go with Diamond, my Sableye. Let's see if we can keep the stage a bit dim for this appeal, since he's a ghost and all... and hopefully that will make the gems stand out.

Hm... *insert overly-dramatic voice here* Creativity, why have you abandoned me!? ...Well, let's see what we can do... Let's start out with that Bubblebeam. Try to spin as you do it, so that they don't all travel in a straight line; we want them sort of scattered about. With what little light there is, we're counting on it being enough to illuminate the bubbles enough to see.

Then, create a weapon with Secret Sword, and proceed to jump around the stage popping the bubbles with your new-found glowing blade. That should have a nice effect in the semi-darkness. When you get near the end of the bubbles, cross the sword with your other claw in an X fashion and use Dual Chop to swing the sword on the final bubbles, ending with an awesome battle pose, as your weapon fades away.

Bubblebeam ~ Secret Sword + Dual Chop
 
Okay, Gargoyle, I'll be sending you out in the middle of the stage, and I want you to keep yourself a few feet above the ground using your wings. We'll start off by using Acid Armor to give you a shiny look. Then use Freeze Shock, but try and make the shard of ice into a large obelisk in front of you, and make it as big as you can. Finish off by using Heat Crash to cover yourself in flames, before crashing into the obelisk shattering it, hopefully causing a combination of Fire, Ice and Lightning. Also if you think you can manage it, try and shake off the Acid Armor while you're at it.

Acid Armor ~ Freeze Shock ~ Heat Crash
 
That's it! All contestants within this bracket have sent their appeals.

Judge fair and steady, the three of you.
 
Time passes, and for a while it seems that this metronome contest may have already suffered the same fate as the last -- lost in indefinite delay of judgment, never to be completed.

(The fact that the judges of one division were obviously still around, just busy ... did not help.)

Then, at last, the dead were resurrected and a messiah returned from extraplanar business, and then it was Judgment Day.

(Well, just the latter, one might expect the former two to come before it, at this rate.)

--

Pathos

Before the lights turn on, the contest hall is quite cool and the visibility provided by the glow of the exit lights (which ... quite possibly need to be fixed, but then, Asberians have always been cheap and have never cared much for safety regulations) is somewhat lacking. Then the lights do turn on, albeit to a dim setting: blue lights from the ground bring attention to an apparently denser-than-air fog; and a single spotlight illuminates the form of an omanyte in a pool.

For a moment, one could make out the omanyte’s eyes and its ten tentacles; but after a moment’s pause, the head-portion seems to vanishes, replaced by a thick stream of water. The force of the shell’s stream pushes the pokémon upward, almost to the ceiling – one might say it created the effect of a shelled cannon, if it weren’t for the fact that cannons generally do not float, and aren’t often used to shoot water.

The omanyte’s stream of water abruptly stops, and gravity ensues; as the shell falls, tumbling in the air, a giant bolt of electricity (large enough to have a mass, even!) appears at its opening, and is shot almost directly upward, toward the spotlight.

The spotlight glows for a brief moment, then explodes for whatever reason. The omanyte, still falling, reaches the ground with a thud. In the blue light from the front of the stage, the pokémon does not move.

Mai: 5.8/10

Eh. This... sort of seems like it's missing something? The attention is all on omanyte, I suppose, but it seems off in an odd way. So you floated up and broke a spotlight and that was cool because...

?

I guess there's just something I'm missing here.

bluzzy: 7.3

A decent appeal – there wasn’t anything wrong with the execution, but it was a bit short for my tastes. I also think you could’ve done something else instead of Withdraw, since I think Omanyte can start in its shell anyway, or at least pull into its shell without the aid of the move.

res: 10.0

your omanyte might not like you very much after this, but I do like the concept. (res has a thing for physics abuse, and it shows.)

--

Shadow Serenity

After Pathos recalls his seemingly-comatose Pokemon and hurries off the stage, Shadow Serenity steps into the spotlight with a small gremlin at his side. The lights remain bright for a few moments so the audience can appreciate Diamond the Sableye, eyes sparkling and face stretched in a grin as he basks in the attention. Then the light dims and Diamond all but fades into the shadow, his location marked only by his glittering gems.

Diamond tilts his head back and carefully but quickly blows a stream of large bubbles. They jiggle gently as they travel through the air, quite noticeable despite the dark settings as the thin surfaces catch the light. The Sableye keeps frothing while spinning in a slow circle, until the stage is populated by bubbles. Between the veil of bubbles and the dim lightning, the audience can barely see Diamond.

Suddenly, in the centre of the foam, something begins to glow a mystical blue-green. Diamond focuses and condenses pure energy in a deadly physical form, then grasps it tightly. With his newfound sword, Diamond leaps through the wall of bubbles, sweeping his weapon in wide arcs. In the dimly-lit arena, the Sableye is a sight to behold, his radiant sword marking his path as he spins and lunges, viciously slashing at the bubbles and cackling a bit as each fragile sphere bursts. The mass of bubbles thins and at last only a small cluster in the middle of the stage is left. Grinning widely, Diamond crosses his arms in an X-formation and lunges at the cluster with a quick one-two strike, slaying most of them with a final sweep of his sword and catching any stragglers with his other hand. All bubbles popped, Diamond allows his weapon to fade away, leaving the stage dark once more.

Mai: 8.7/10

Wheee--

This is pretty cool, actually. I like the bubbles and the playfulness and a lot of other things about the appeal. The only thing that seems odd is the proportions of that combo you made; the sword would probably make the whole thing seem a bit awkward, but it doesn't really matter.

bluzzy: 9.0
Flashy and dramatic. Good use of lighting as it brought out the bubbles, the sword, and Diamond’s eyes.

res: 5.6

can't say I'm too impressed by the business of making stuff and destroying stuff, but hey, you made use of what you had and put on a show of it.

--

Luxcario

Much to the audience’s relief, as Shadow Serenity hurried off the stage with Diamond, the lights brighten so that they do not need to squint and strain their eyes. But of course, appeals with normal lighting are few and far between, and so the stage is washed by light purple. luxcario walks on the stage, looking a bit intimidated by the crowd and by his older, more experienced rivals. Nevertheless he releases his Pokemon, a Woobat, who snuffles in delight and darts to and fro.

Once Cloudy Toaster is sure he has the crowd’s attention, he beats his wings furiously and begins to zip around the stage. The audience has trouble following the speedy creature; heads keep jerking crazily as people try to keep up. As Cloudy Toaster flies, he opens his mouth wide and gathers a vague, cloudy sphere of energy, which he spits towards the ceiling. There it stays for a moment, and, upon finding no abnormal influence in the atmosphere, begins to drift back down. Meanwhile, Cloudy Toaster is spent – flying at such speeds is rather taxing, and he doesn’t have the energy or concentration to spit out another Weather Ball.

The audience is a bit perplexed as Cloudy Toaster does nothing more than dart about the stage. After a few drawn-out moments, though, the Weather Ball reappears, gravity drawing it down at an unhurried pace. Upon seeing his cue Cloudy Toaster brightens somewhat. Water bubbles out of his rear end (some members of the audience cringe before realizing the liquid is colourless) and he lunges at his own attack, turning at the last second to slam it with a sheet of water. The Weather Ball bursts into shreds of mist, coloured blue by the water’s influence and purple by the lights.

Mai: 5.8/10

Hm. I don't really know what you were going for. There's nothing that wrong with it, but nothing particularly exciting. The multicolored weather ball idea is neat, but not that much came of it until the last action. What was he flying around for?

bluzzy: 6.8

Even though there were a few hitches in your execution, it didn’t come off that bad. First of all, you can only launch one Weather Ball. Second, the attack description indicates that the attack spends a bit of time in the atmosphere and floats down slowly, so you had a bit of dead air time while Cloudy Toaster just darted around. Finally, perhaps you could’ve done something other than Fly, since Cloudy Toaster can already Fly and using the move only permits him to Fly higher, which isn’t what you wanted. The ending was enough to secure you some points, but unfortunately the stumbles took some away.

res: 1.1

well, am not overly impressed by the make stuff out of moves, and then breaking it with another move.

--

ole_schooler

This time, the lights used are blue; they remain dim as they turn on to an empty stage. But soon enough, a small, vaguely saurian figure -- a larvitar -- waddles onstage from the left (from the audience's perspective, in any case. Nearing the center of the stage, it bends over slightly, as if to take a bow; its rocky, one-piece body does not really lend itself to bending, however.

The larvitar turns upward, and spits many droplets of what seems to be water, though as the first few drops fall to the stage and some smoke rises from the ground, it becomes clear that it is not pure water. Before all of the liquid falls to the ground, the larvitar's face develops a look of deep constipation -- er, concentration -- and then a look of wonder, and the remaining liquid remains suspended in the air for a rather long, gravity-defying moment. And then it falls.

As the liquid falls, the larvitar begins to glow with a dazzlingly bright white light -- celestial light, one might say, except that stars do not work that way.

The liquid reaches the ground and begins burning through the stage before the larvitar's white lighting effect ends, devoured by the bright red light of the pokémon being recalled.

Mai: 7.8/10

Your appeal sounds very pretty! I don't think a larvatar[sic] would be the best choice for it, considering everything, but I don't see a very good reason to fault you for that. Psychic type moves are useful in a lot of ways, and I'm sort of glad you made use of them. Not that unexpected, though.

bluzzy: 6.2

Unfortunately, Confusion isn’t the best move to manipulate objects, as it’s a very weak move. Therefore, the Acid droplets fell before Xander could use Cosmic Power, so it seemed disjointed from the rest of the appeal. Levitating Acid droplets aren’t particularly mindblowing by themselves, either (and probably difficult to see given some distance).

res: 8.9

no idea what kind of acid acid sprays! it must necessarily be an aqueous solution, and is presumably a corrosive, but. (actually, most acids probably wouldn't burn through the stage, but rule of maximum arena destruction, eh?)

--

RespectTheBlade

RespectTheBlade enters with his Pawniard, Byrne, at his side. Byrne poses dramatically for the crowd and his trainer waves. The audience is given a moment to take in the appealers and applaud before the lights dim.

The audience can just make Byrne out as his metallic armour catches what little light is left. Suddenly, his features twist in unparalleled rage and a faint but furious red aura seeps from his body. At the same time, he swings an arm forward and a swarm of bees appear at his fingertips. Their yellow-and-black bodies are weakly illuminated by Byrne’s glow, but it’s enough for the audience to follow their path. Byrne swings his arms with a wild grace and the bees obey, swooping this way and that. Despite their natural fear of bees, the crowd is mesmerized by the movement.

Finally, Byrne brings both arms down on the stage, embedding his blades in the wood with a grunt of exertion. The bees follow, creating a waterfall of yellow-and-black bodies. As Byrne’s concentration falters, his red aura fades and the stage is plunged in relative darkness. The audience can still hear the bees, though, which are buzzing angrily. Squinting, they see Byrne crouched on the ground, a look of intense concentration on his face. And then the bees are on him, swarming all over his body, stinging and biting with all their might.

Before Byrne can unleash his explosive Bide, however, a judge blows a whistle and informs RespectTheBlade that his allotted time is up. Disappointed, he returns his Pawniard to his Pokeball and quickly shuffles off the stage.

Mai: 7.5/10

That would've been a lot better if the bide actually had time to go off (I thought it would! I should probably think more about mechanics), but I actually like your appeal either way. There were... bees.. and rage... and things. Yeah.

bluzzy: 6.3

The AAG doesn’t describe Rage as giving off a red aura, but I decided to be generous and give that to you. Sharing that aura with the bees is a bit of a stretch, though. Regardless, the lighting and the movement of the bees was nice. Bide takes a full round to charge and unleash, though, so the ending was rather disappointing.

res: 3.3

well, the appeal is bees. doesn't quite make much sense with a pawniard, but it's metronome contest, that's not unexpectable.

timing of bide being way off is something of a thing, though.

--

Sweetie Belle

Before this appeal, a carbon dioxide haze had to be arranged, and that was a mess, so this had better be good.

The lights are dim, bright enough to reveal the figure of a pink cow in the middle of the stage, just about enough to make out the details of its markings on its hide, but dark enough that most of it is shadowy.

The miltank begins by spraying a powder into the air, into the haze. The astute observer may note that the substance released is made of mushroom spores, and acts as a sort of sleeping drug.

In any case, it acts quickly on the miltank, which promptly falls asleep, curling up for whatever reason into a somewhat cute ball.

Mai: 2.5/10

Reasons why res shouldn't judge: it is a killjoy, and makes appeals very sad. Either way, though, I don't think it would be best to order an action of sleep...? Er, I couldn't quite follow your logic either, but sorry it turned out badly. Miltank are cute... I guess?

bluzzy: 3.5

I gave some points for effort, but the appeal was very underwhelming. I’d recommend thinking of the attacks’ effects thoroughly next time. The Spores would indeed be suspended in the mist, but MooMoo couldn’t scatter them far enough to avoid inhaling them herself. Even if she could, Defog involves blowing away the mist, which would put much of the audience to sleep and would screw up her next action.

res: 0.0

?? no idea what you were trying to do. it made no sense to me. I could make no sense of it.

lighting conditions is nonsense. there's a limit to how many constraints you can add to a problem before it really is impossible!

I fail to see the logick behind spore not working with carbon dioxide haze around -- it really shouldn't be concentrated enough to interfere at all with anything, at least not without also suffocating the miltank, which ... could be arranged. Would needs be unsafe, though.

defog should not work that way. blowing things away while leaving suspended particles in place does not happen, and magicking things away is … not usually how defog is described.

consider thinking about what you're trying to do in the future.

--

Blastoise Fortooate

Hidden behind the curtain, Blastoise tosses his pokéball out to centerstage; it opens up revealing an aipom, and the lights significantly brighten to signal the start of the appeal. At about the same time, the most beautiful song ever started to play and res had to arrange for the music to go off before the aipom started performing, in order to maintain unbiased judging for the contest.

(The other idea was to remove Mai, but that would also have skewed the judgment.)

Jimmy begins by lighting up his head with an aqua color, gaining the calm necessary to perform his task. Juggling, got it, it was time to go. Creating a few stereotypical white boxes for this sort of thing, complete with a red ribbon, he casually threw them into the air and began to pass them from hand to hand to tail-hand. Feeling a bit confident, he added two apparitions more while he was at it; in the end, he was juggling five and looking proud. Then, flashing a grin, he chucked them all into the air in rhythm. Hopping up onto the judges' table for a springboard and producing water from nowhere to fuel his jump (dousing said judges in the process--not cool, Blastoise), he sped into the air and crashed right through all of the presents; some of them exploded in a rather comical manner, but the minor injuries obtained from that were healed by the last one. Heading towards the ground quickly, he softened his landing with a spontaneous somersault and stood up just in time for him to give a bow.

Mai: 8.5/10

Hey! Again, res, not cool.

I really enjoyed this appeal. Your aipom's juggling was pretty entertaining, and even though I did get wet I'm willing to forgive that for the idea of Avatar music. The idea of your performance was really neat, actually, and Jimmy did well.

bluzzy: 8.5

Juggling is always nice, and Jimmy’s species fits the bill perfectly. The ending was dramatic, too (but watch the water next time; even if I’m rust-proof I can’t say I enjoy water). I feel like Zen Headbutt’s potential was a bit wasted though; maybe you could’ve headbutted a Present or something, I dunno. Just making something glow (and heightening concentration maybe, but the audience probably wouldn’t realize that) for an entire action doesn’t really command attention. Good job overall, though.

res: 6.7

pretty sure you'd care more about impulse there, not momentum, but taking off points for that would be mean, and exactly in character for a res.

make stuff, break stuff isn't that impressive. juggling is a nice touch, though.

--

Grass King

Gargoyle the druddigon takes the stage in a rather offbeat way; being sort of disgusting. Bringing up a bunch of goop and spreading it over his body with a quick movement, the acid armor admittedly helps with his defense but does nothing to improve his already mediocre complexion. Still, though, the slightly bulkier dragon decides to perservere; he begins with crafting a huge slab of ice out of thin air. That's not an unimpressive feat, the audience agrees, but that wasn't the end of the discussion; next, Gargoyle had to shape the hunk of ice. Chipping off a bit here and there, adding a small amount on the bottom to even things out, smoothing out the texture with his oily, sandpapery hands... in the end, the structure would have gotten him into a poke-design school, if it hadn't taken him so long. Nevertheless, Gargoyle hoped to do well in the round; lighting himself on fire and burning up every ounce of his acid armor, he slammed into his creation with a mixture of heat and force that either sent flying shards of ice at the audience or doused them with water, depending on their distance from the stage.

Oops.

Mai: 6.2/10

Not much happened here! It didn't seem something like freeze shock would work well in a contest, actually... it seemed to require concentration. The combination of types was good, I guess, but that's just what you were dealt.

bluzzy: 8.0

Creating something and then destroying it is a pretty done-to-death type of appeal, but it had a legendary signature move and lots of fire so I liked it. Causing the toxins on the skin to burn was a nice touch, if (perhaps) unintentional. I might’ve changed the command order so Gargoyle created the ice obelisk first, then doused himself in poison, lit himself on fire, and then killed the obelisk, so the audience didn’t get bored on the first action, but what you had was fine.

res: 3.3

make stuff, break stuff, eh, as I've mentioned. it is, at least, somewhat impressive stuff, but the concept just … doesn't flow. freeze shock isn't really the best legendary move for these purposes, I suppose.

--

Effercon

The lights on the stage are dim, but, puzzlingly, the rest of the theatre is lighted as it would be during intermission.

And then a giant metallic bird launches itself from a back corner; and almost as soon as the audience has had time to react to its presence, it swoops at them -- at some points, so low that the audience has to duck to not be hit by a giant metal bird; one is, in fact, hit by a claw as the skarmory rises, but just gets back up with no apparent injury. The bird, having alarmed the audience with its flight, lands in the other back corner of the theatre.

Almost immediately after it lands, it takes off again, again forcing the audience to duck -- though this time, they are more prepared and nobody gets hurt. (A good thing, too -- think of the legal fees!) This time, the skarmory lands on the dimmed stage; as it turns, it shoots a wide blast of pure darkness at the entire audience in the theatre; for a moment, the theatre is, to the audience, entirely black.

It lasts only a moment, but when it ends, a good part of them are still blinking and rubbing their eyes.

Mai: 6/10

Not a big fan of most physical attacks, really, and I don't think brute force was the way to go with this. Your attacks don't really add up to a hugely important thing; if you ordered them in a battle, the damage would only rack up to about ~38% or so, and that actually doesn't hit the damage cap in a lot of cases. The acrobatics could have been interesting if they were built on more, but the appeal isn't that exciting over all. It's not terrible, though, and the finish was impressive enough.

bluzzy: 6.3

Traumatizing the audience probably isn’t the best thing to do, though I guess you were trying to go for excitement? Anyway, the repeated Brave Birds were a bit disappointing, because even having a giant metal bird lunging at you gets old eventually. The music didn’t seem too fitting either, as it was, in my opinion, too mellow to match a bird swooping at you from above. Night Daze made for a dramatic finish, though it didn’t seem particularly connected to all the swooping, either.

res: 5.6

pretending to do bad things to the audience, eh. impressive big attacks, eh. blinding the audience, eh. complete disregard for safety regulations, eh.

seems ... flashy, but not that impressive. but please do not attack the audience.

--

Kusarigamaitachi

At the beginning of the appeal, the audience is rather confused; everything is dark and vague other than a beaming, bright spotlight that shines on absolutely nothing. Wasn't there supposed to be an appeal going on...? Well, it was the last appeal of the night (two months or so, whatever), it must have been a mistake and obviously everyone just needed to go home.

That was until the body was tossed down from the ceiling. Everyone had a moment of horrified fear/terrified excitement, expecting some terrible murderer to come following on and seeing the best appeal ever take place before they realized it was just a dummy and no one died. That was a pity, but it didn't detract from the totally awesome factor of an egocentric-yet-well-intentioned treecko following in a dive. Translucent, watery knives suddenly appearing in Kusha's hand, he tossed them one at a time at the plummeting dummy while watching him fall and completely forgetting he was doing the same. Once his target was subdued, his ever-present cocky grin grew larger than ever. With an exciting and infectious whoop of victory, he ripped his hands--which had suddenly gained cutting nails, exaggerating the effect--into the dummy's chest and yanked out some stuffing. Standing back up proudly, flashing a soon-to-be-signature smile, Kusha soundlessly padded off the stage before anyone could tell him the show was over.

The curtains closed on the first round, with hopefully only a few of the contestants noticing the slight delay.

Mai: 9.5/10

:D

I actually liked this outside of the knife outline! The moves used were creative, your treecko hanging on the ceiling was a unique (to the pokemon) touch, and even though treecko only learn crush claw the appeal seems perfectly fitting for them. I wasn't quite sure how sonicboom was supposed to work, but this was a metronome contest; pokemon are expected to do weird things.

bluzzy: 9.3
This appeal was unique and used Kusha’s natural speed and… gecko-yness. Dramatic and exciting, but also a bit too quick. Regardless, great job overall, and nothing to really complain about.

res: 8.9

a terrible, a terrible, a terrible unpersons, have I mentioned?

that said, cohesive combination of appeal and pokémon is cohesive.

not seeing enough physics though should I take off points for not getting the promised physics

--

Composite scores are as follows:

  • 27.7 Kusarigamaitachi[/*]
  • 23.7 Blastoise Fortooate[/*]
  • 23.3 Shadow Serenity[/*]
  • 23.1 Pathos[/*]
  • 22.9 ole_schooler[/*]
  • 18 Effercon -- mai only gave one sig fig! (17.9)[/*]
  • 17.5 Grass King[/*]
  • 17.1 RespectTheBlade[/*]
  • 13.7 Luxcario[/*]
  • 6.0 Sweetie Belle[/*]

As such, Kusarigamaitachi, Blastoise Fortooate, Shadow Serenity, Pathos, and ole_schooler advance to the next round of contest.

The rest ... don't. Sorry about your lack of luck, perhaps, for those of who tried and failed.

--

Music was not considered, though it probably did influence our decisions.

We apologise for the inconvenience!
 
Okay, I'll be using Topher and Castiel this time.

I want them starting at the top of the slope, Castiel riding atop Topher, the latter of which will not be levitating. As the appeal starts, the two will push themselves down the slope, Cas maybe with a flap of his wings and Topher just by nudging himself forwards, or using psychic energy if necessary; since it's so easy to slip downwards, it shouldn't be a problem.

Castiel should then begin to sleep talk; though he's awake, of course, so his murmuring should instead be words of advice to his sled Topher, who will look excited and nod and stuff at Castiel's ideas. As a response, Topher will (while sliding down the hill) let out a combination of twister + psywave, letting the psywave twirl inside the twister; this should be used sort of in front of and to the side of Cas and Topher, so that Cas has to grab Topher, pick the two of them up and pull them aside to dodge the twister as they slide by. If necessary Topher can make himself levitate to assist in dodging.

After landing, Cas looks rather sick from that last-second dodge, and proceeds to vomit toxic all over Topher. This obviously doesn't affect the metang, so they continue downwards. Ideally they should be close to the bottom of the slope now when Cas starts his shadow force, becoming immaterial; Topher keeps sliding downwards. When Topher's only a few feet from the end of the slope, Cas should rematerialize, grab Topher with all the momentum of his shadow force, and slam the metang into the ground, wherein Topher will release a magnitude upon impact.

Cas should then land upon the fallen metang, who won't move from however it fell, appearing dead and shattered.

Castiel: Sleep Talk ~ Toxic ~ Shadow Force
Topher: Twister + Psywave ~ Magnitude
 
Well, I sneaked by round 1, let's see if I can do better round 2. Sadly, most of these moves are not the strongest, but Angel the Houndoom and Luke the Lucario can make it work.

Angel: Wring Out, Hail, Toxic, FeatherDance
Luke: ThunderShock, Gust, Psyshock, Fury Swipes

I'd like Angel to start out inside some burning brush, hidden by the flaming flora, before the camera starts rolling. Try to stay hid, and hope the heat doesn't get to you. Luke, when the camera starts, you're to burst out in a panic. You're a good guy, and want to fight the fire. Flail around just sort of generally. Meanwhile, Angel, fill your bush with feathers with Featherdance. The idea is to create as much burning particulate as you can. It's okay if some of the feathers fall outside, just try to stay hidden, and try to make sure the feathers catch on fire.

Next, Luke, snap your head towards that bush. You know the source of the fire is in there. Shove all the fiery feathers (as well as any leaves, sticks, or other things that will get caught) high into the air with a Psyshock. This should leave Angel alone, surrounded by some blacked brush, with bits of ash and flame raining down (because dark is immune to psychic). Angel, howl at the sky and call down a Hail, but make it more snow than ice, if you can (I don't know if you can). With luck, the soot and ash will mix with the water, creating a black snow/ice falling from above onto the ground.

With the hissing black snow falling on the flaming trees, the camera should pan around you two, final-boss style. Luke should try and Gust the snow into the fire, to try and bank it. Gust isn't nearly powerful enough, though, and Luke should realize quickly (and act out) that this is futile. Angel knows it, and, like the evil mastermind he is, he should let out a bunch of bark-laughs. After all, the hero is helpless, with no moves that can really hurt you, and evil is about to win, right? Luke, stay dejected for a moment or two, until you shake your head in rage. Back up several paces, then start running at Angel, as though you're just going to hit him. When you're about ten feet away, use Psyshock again, but rather than on Angel, direct it so that the force propels you forwards (like giving yourself a big psychic push from behind), so that you hit Angel at the max possible speed. When he hits you, Angel, fall over, let out a little Toxic as though you've been hit so hard your innards have ruptured and have forced themselves out your mouth, and "die". Luke, slowly get up, look at your fallen foe, up at the burning trees and black snow, and limp, dejected, away.

Angel: Featherdance~Hail~Toxic
Luke: Psyshock~Gust~Psyshock
 
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